Jury duty scams on the rise again in metro Atlanta, officials say

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A common scam is on the rise again. A number of law enforcement agencies around metro Atlanta say they’re getting more and more calls from people complaining crooks are pretending to be from sheriff’s departments or from courts. They call you and claim you missed jury duty. Then they try to fleece you out of your money.

It sounds convincing. Someone claiming to be from a sheriff’s office or a court calls you and says you have a citation for failure to appear for jury duty.

"Yes, very convincing," said Scott Herba. He said he got a call from someone masquerading as a law-enforcement officer.

"(The) sheriff for the Cobb County sheriff’s department," Herba said. "He stated that I failed to appear and that I had citations related to the jury."

Herba says the guy on the other end told him he owed a lot of money. "$30,000."

Herba told the guy he’d try to resolve the matter in person. But the bogus officer gave him an ultimatum that sent up a red flag. "I said can I bring it to the clerk’s office? He said I’d be arrested."

Lt. Col. Arthur Peralta, is with the Cobb County sheriff’s office, says his department has received an increasing number of calls of such scams. "The past several months, we’ve had multiple complaints of this type of activity going on," Lt. Col. Peralta said. "They will tell you that you either have to pay a court fee or fine because you missed jury duty or you have to some kind of bond to get your family member out of jail."

Peralta says crooks will ask for your credit card, gift cards, cryptocurrency or cash. They even tried to scam people in his agency. "Many of the individuals at the Cobb County sheriff's office, including the sheriff’s office, including the sheriff have been called by people claiming to be from the sheriff’s office," Peralta said.

Sgt. Leon Millholland, with Sandy Springs police, says scammer in recent weeks cheated residents out of tens of thousands of dollars. "I believe to be roughly around $50,000," Sgt. Millholland said. "They’ll ask for cash to be sent directly or they’ll request a name, date of birth."

Herba didn’t fall for the trick. "I said ‘well if you need to arrest me, that’s fine.’ I hung up."

The law-enforcement agencies say that’s exactly what you should do. No one legitimate, not the sheriff, not the marshal, not police, not the courts,  will call you to resolve a warrant  over the phone. If you really aren’t sure, hang up and call that agency directly. Ask them to verify the information.